As an entrepreneur, you have already taken the first step of starting a company but in the next days, months and years it can become difficult to find the strength to carry on with your quest. Waking up one day and feeling lack of motivation, not having any more ideas on how to get over a problem or how to solve a situation is not a good enough reason to stop pursuing your dream. If everyone would give up their ideas after the first setback then the world would not be what it is today. As an entrepreneur you have a lot of responsibilities, it is your company and you probably want to make sure it is running smoothly.

There can be found some key ways that help find motivation and reduce the stress of running a company. First of those may be developing a business plan which helps you to set minor objectives towards a bigger goal. Completing these objectives can help you keep track of your progress (so you can make sure you’re not falling behind) and also will make you feel like you’ve accomplished something which will give you more energy to keep on moving. Another point is to keep personal and professional life separated which can be done with the help of establishing a schedule. Sticking to boundaries will help with time management and working on objectives. Having time to rest and recharge makes you more effective and productive. You can find more self-management strategies for entrepreneurs like delegating personal and professional tasks and self-auditing in an article by Lisa McQuerrey.

Every person on this planet is one of a kind (or one in seven billion) so something that works for Richard Branson might not work for Bill Gates. There are articles about how successful people motivate themselves, for example this one in Forbes. The article brings out that first you have to identify something that you want and what you can do towards it and then find the reasons why you are not already moving towards your goal. It also suggests that having a friends’ support will assist in taking the steps necessary for pursuing it. As mentioned above, everyone is different and Mark Suster talks about this in his simple yet down to earth and straightforward article on how he finds motivation in music and running. His message to his readers: „Find ways to motivate yourself… Deal in today’s problems not in tomorrow’s possible ones.”

By Joosep K. Kuljus

Sources:

Brown, P. B. 2012. Forbes. How the Most Successful People Motivate Themselves (And Stay Motivated). URL http://www.forbes.com/sites/actiontrumpseverything/2012/12/29/how-the-most-successful-people-motivate-themselves-and-stay-motivated/

McQuerrery, L. Houston Chronicle. Self-Management Strategies for Entrepreneurs. URL http://smallbusiness.chron.com/selfmanagement-strategies-entrepreneurs-54138.html

Suster, M. 2013. LinkedIn. How Do you Motivate Yourself and Stay Focused? URL http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131009071804-130311-how-do-you-motivate-yourself-and-stay-focused